Based on Interior’s materials and the FY2026 budget proposal, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service (USWFS) is intended to be a new, unified federal wildland fire agency housed within the Department of the Interior. Secretary’s Order 3443 directs Interior to establish the USWFS and consolidate Interior’s wildland fire programs under it, and the President’s FY2026 budget proposal and outside analyses describe it as a new agency within Interior that would ultimately consolidate federal wildfire responsibilities. However, at this stage Interior has only “announced” and begun planning and implementation; full legal creation and scope will still depend on congressional authorization and appropriations.
Interior says the USWFS will unify wildland fire management programs that are now spread across several Interior components. The January 12, 2026 Interior release lists: the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, the Office of Aviation Services, and the Office of Wildland Fire as being within its current fire portfolio and describes the goal as “unifying the wildland fire management programs across the Department’s bureaus and offices.” A related Tribal consultation notice for implementing Secretarial Order 3443 specifies that the core lands from which wildland fire services are provided are managed by BIA, BLM, NPS, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The exact final organizational chart (e.g., which functions move wholesale into the USWFS versus staying as support units) has not yet been publicly finalized.
Brian Fennessy is a veteran fire chief with nearly five decades of experience in wildland and structural fire. Interior’s January 2026 release says he will “oversee the creation of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service,” and describes him as having led large, complex wildfire responses in California. He previously served as Fire Chief of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and, most recently, as Fire Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, one of California’s largest fire departments. His career began in 1978 with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management as a hotshot and helitack firefighter, later becoming a crew superintendent. External reporting and his appointment announcement describe his new federal position as the inaugural Director (or Chief) of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, a Senior Executive-level role leading the new agency within Interior.
Yes, Congress will ultimately need to authorize and fund the USWFS at scale, and a notional budget has been proposed. The FY2026 Interior Budget in Brief and related analyses describe an Administration proposal to create the USWFS with consolidated wildfire accounts and line items (Preparedness, Suppression, Fuels Management, Facilities, Burned Area Recovery, Intelligence & Technology, Grants & Partnerships, and the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund). Taxpayers for Common Sense summarizes that the President’s FY2026 request would consolidate federal wildfire funding into eight line items under Interior and proposes multi‑billion‑dollar annual spending for the new agency, including $2.85 billion for the Suppression Operations Reserve Fund alone. However, Interior’s September 15, 2025 joint announcement with USDA explicitly notes that “successful implementation will also depend on continued support from Congress to provide the necessary appropriations and authorities to sustain these reforms,” and later reporting indicates that FY2026 appropriations had not yet provided dedicated USWFS funding and that at least some consolidation steps are “stalled pending further study.” So a conceptual budget exists in the President’s request, but final authorized funding levels and any specific USWFS line‑item appropriations are not yet enacted or public.
Interior’s plan is to stand up the USWFS structure in early 2026, but the transition will likely be phased over multiple years. Secretary’s Order 3443 (described in Interior and E&E reporting) directed Interior’s wildland fire bureaus to develop a consolidation plan by late October 2025, with implementation “in January 2026” or “going into effect on Jan. 12, 2026,” and subsequent Interior press releases describe the January 12, 2026 announcement as “the next step” in establishing the USWFS. Colorado Public Radio similarly reports that the new service “aims to begin operations by January 2026,” overseen by a new fire chief reporting to the Interior Secretary. At this point, public documents do not provide a detailed, date‑by‑date schedule for when all personnel, budgets, and assets will be fully transitioned, and outside analyses stress that complete consolidation could take many years and still hinges on congressional funding and authorities.
The USWFS is being designed to work alongside, not replace, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and to strengthen coordination with state, local, and Tribal partners. The September 15, 2025 Interior–USDA plan states that the USWFS will “unify Interior’s fire bureaus and align operations with the Department of Agriculture through shared procurement, predictive services, research and policy reforms,” and lists priorities like creating a joint federal firefighting aircraft service, consolidating predictive services into a national intelligence capability, and standardizing qualifications and training. The National Association of Counties summary notes that the Forest Service and the USWFS will be designated “the two major federal wildland firefighting agencies” and are instructed to collaborate “to the fullest extent possible on all aspects of fire response operations.” Executive Order 14308 and Interior press releases also emphasize expanded partnerships, compacts, and mutual aid with state, local, and Tribal governments as central tools, and Tribal‑specific consultation processes (e.g., BIA’s USWFS Tribal consultations) are underway to ensure Tribal perspectives in how the unified Interior fire program will serve Tribal lands and governments.
Executive Order 14308, “Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response,” directs Interior and Agriculture to consolidate and streamline federal wildland fire programs and to support more technology‑driven, locally informed wildfire prevention and response. Section 2 orders the Interior and Agriculture Secretaries to “consolidate their wildland fire programs” within 90 days to achieve the most efficient and effective use of wildfire offices, coordinating bodies, programs, budgets, procurement, and research, and to recommend additional measures. Other sections require: (1) expanding partnerships, agreements, and mutual aid with state, local, and Tribal entities; (2) developing a technology roadmap (AI, data‑sharing, mapping, ignition detection, modeling) to strengthen state and local capabilities; (3) reviewing and, where lawful, easing federal rules that impede prescribed burning and fire‑retardant use; (4) promoting biomass and hazardous‑fuel removal; and (5) modernizing performance metrics, rules, and data (including declassifying satellite data) for wildfire prevention and response. Interior and USDA explicitly frame the USWFS as the main vehicle to “implement President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order 14308,” meaning the EO provides the policy mandate and direction to unify Interior’s wildland fire functions into the USWFS and to coordinate closely with USDA’s Forest Service under this streamlined governance model. However, the EO itself does not create the USWFS by name; it authorizes and instructs the agencies to reorganize and propose further measures, which are then being carried out through Secretarial orders, budget proposals, and subsequent implementation steps.